


Lork

by DaveyTheDuck



Series: Lork [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Deepnest, Gen, Illustrated, Illustrations, WASTELANDS, Weavers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaveyTheDuck/pseuds/DaveyTheDuck
Summary: A deep dive into the concept and the mysteries of the wasteland, the empty no bug's land that borders hallownest, the eternal kingdom. Lork, a large scorpion of deepnest, an ally of the weavers, and a proud hunter, in the confusion caused by the infection spreading, was able to escape hallownest and ventured into the wastelands beyond, determined to find the weavers and a new home. But soon Lork realizes that this place is nothing like the twisting tunnels he traversed in deepnest, and even for him, this place is a challenge like no other. This trek will change Lork forever.
Series: Lork [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000812
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. New Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter sets up the story and everything. A slow start but I swear it gets better (lol just like hollow knight).

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 1 - New Colors_

As a scorpling, Lork never dared venture out of Deepnest. Deepnest had everything Lork wanted and he couldn’t go out and check if the other places were any better because the Mantis Tribe would hunt and kill him if he did. Most of Lork’s siblings died to that territorial tribe, and Lork never wanted to share the same foolish fate. 

When the infection came to Deepnest, nothing really changed, the creatures there were as mindless as ever, but it wasn’t until Lork noticed the strange color, gleaming in their eyes when he realized something was wrong. Lork had never seen that color before: _Orange_ _._ Lork didn’t like the color orange, it felt off to him, to say the least. Like an accidental mixture of substances that shouldn’t exist, Lork didn’t see many colors, only grey, black, dark blue, and the occasional white gleam of the weaver’s strings. Orange was the first new color Lork had seen in a long time, and he hated it. Lork was very much thrown off by this color. Although it didn’t really change anything too severely so he didn’t question it. It wasn’t until he rested in his silk hammock in his home much later when he realized that something was very much wrong. 

_Lork had a dream, which was very unusual for Lork already. In the dream, Lork was standing on a strange large platform surrounded by darkness with lines engraved into it, forming a spiral. Dark clouds surrounded the skies and the ground around him. It was nearly pitch black. There were large horns that seemed to stretch up and curved in the distance. The horns were poking out from below everywhere. Out from the abyss, he could not see the bottom of. Although it was difficult to make out these horns due to the darkness that surrounded him. And at the end of each curved horn, it split into 2. Very odd. For a while, Lork stood still and looked around. He could see a faint light in the distance. A ball of dim light flew to him and started to orbit Lork while making a sound that rang through Lork’s ears. It sped up fast and faster and the refulgent ball began to take form and the sound grew louder and louder. “This cannot be real…” Lork thought. Lork began to hit his head trying to wake himself up. The ringing noise grew louder and louder as it closed in on Lork, he saw points begin to slowly stick out from the top of the orb. Lork bent his body down and hit his head with all of his limbs._ _“unity… power… submit...”_ _The sound grew even louder, Lork slammed his head onto the ground, again and again, trying to wake himself up as the light grew wings._ _“Unity… a return… remember...”_ _he heard the light say as it closed in on him. He could feel his heart in him racing and beating rapidly as the light approached. The ringing became unbearable, Lork raised his upper body, and violently slammed it into the stone floor. The shell of his head cracked a little. “LIGHT… UNITY… SUBMIT” in a loud, roaring feminine voice. Lork heard as the bright light charged at him fully formed, but it was too bright to make out what it looked like._ Right before it reached him, Lork awoke from his nightmare and fell off his hammock. He looked at his surroundings; everything was normal except the orange glow from the eyes of the husks and the dirtcarvers. He felt his head, he could still hear that noise ringing in his ear. He noticed that the crack in his shell he caused in his dream was still there somehow. Lork didn’t know what was happening and was worried to go back to sleep, so he decided to go ask the weavers in the farther section of Deepnest. They always have an answer for Lork.

Lork went to the distant village to question the weavers as to what was going on. The weavers aided Lork every now and then and Lork did the same for them. He looked everywhere. _The weavers were gone._ The weavers were the smartest people Lork knew. If they left, that means whatever was going on is unstoppable. 

Lork knew that his only option in this circumstance was to run just like the weavers.

_And Lork ran._

Lork was running faster than he ever had before. Lork ramed through the mantis’ border gate, smashing it down, ensuing chaos as hundreds of dirt carvers ran out along with him. The mantis tribe spotted him, dashing at him with blinding speed, Lork dodged lunge after lunge and managed to nab a mantis claw on his way up. Lork felt like he wasn’t in control anymore, he outran the creatures he thought meant instant death for his kind. Up, up, and up, Lork went through Hallownest. Stabbing, snapping dodging, and climbing at a speed Lork didn’t think he was capable of. No hesitation for the color orange, one swift stab through the shell and it was dead. As he climbed from fungal wastelands to strange lush forests, all the way to twisting grey caverns. Lork saw two new colors, green and yellow. Lork didn’t trust them.

Eventually, after frantically jumping from mechanical platform to mechanical platform. Lork was surrounded by empty, mindless attackers. Already tired from running so fast, he lacked the energy to fight them off. Luckily, he noticed some light coming down on him from above. There was a bright circle above him. Lork jumped onto the cavern ceiling, dodging the empty ones’ leaping slashes he peered through the bright circle. It was in fact a hole. Quickly, lork grabbed his chain rope -a rare item he found on the corpse of an unfortunate lost bug a long time ago- he tossed it up the hole. The chain caught something nearby. He quickly climbed the chain, an empty one slashed his tail, the pain jolted through Lork like never before. Lork knew he had to continue climbing. And up he went. He could hear the screeching of the infected fading as he climbed up, and the sounds of loud, howling winds and the panicked chatter of bugs grew louder.

He crawled out of the narrow hole to see a crowded village of bugs of many shapes and sizes. Lork towered over the small bugs, most ran in fear of Lork, they have heard about the creatures of deepnest and know how brutal and bestial they can be.

Lork looked around, he was safe, but this place was not for him. He is a hunter, not a peasant of some kind. Houses are too small for Lork, and most of the residents gave him strange and almost threatening looks. Lork didn’t bother questioning any of these small weak bugs, he knew they knew even less about the situation than him. Lork left the village, and climbed up a large staircase near the village, and went through the windy caverns, briefly stopping to rest near a forgotten room with an old canister and strange, ancient torches.

After resting and tending to his wounds, Lork descended the cliffside and reached a point where the wind itself was fighting him back. 

_“Home… not safe... anymore… must find… new home,”_ he told himself. 

The sand beat hard against his shell. 

Lork kept moving. 

_“Not… safe…”_ he stated. 

The sand was starting to hurt. 

_“New… home…”_

The sand was stinging. 

_“Keep… moving…”_

Lork inched farther and farther away from Hallownest, and closer into the grey unknown before him.

_“New… home…”_

Lork blocked the sand from hitting his face with his claws. 

The sand felt like it was inside him now. 

_“New… home…”_

the sand felt like it was in his head now. 

_“...home…”_

Everything was stinging.

_“...home…”_

Lork’s head began to pound.

_“...home..:”_

With each step Lork took, the pain sharpened.

_“...home…”_

He could barely think straight.

_“...h-”_

Lork blacked out.

**_~End of Chapter 1~_ **


	2. A Strange Little Companion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lork finds a new friend and new foes in the wasteland.

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 2 - A Strange Little Companion_

Lork’s head was spinning, Lork has never experienced this much pain in his entire existence. He laid still for a while, waiting for the pain to weaken. Eventually, the pain became bearable and Lork opened his eyes. He was surrounded by strange silver sand. Lork lifted his head, looked around, and discovered that his body was completely covered in sand. Slowly, he regained the strength to lift his body, brushed off some of the sand, and looked around a little more thoroughly. There were a few corpses scattered around, spiraling fossils poking out of the sand like an island, a very distant mountain behind him, and a cold, grey, empty sky. Nothing else was on the horizon surrounding him, he was in an empty, lifeless plain. It seemed to stretch endlessly. Lork was confused, he just woke up in a wasteland. 

The only visible landmark was the distant mountain, it was his best option as the wasteland around him seemed to stretch endlessly. Lork’s head started to hurt a little more, he had a fuzzy, and strange flashback: It was him running from some kind of orange creature, he could fight it but it would just keep coming back it chased him out of his home, he recalled escaping from it through the mountain. Lork looked around him once more. No sign of the orange creature. Lork didn’t know if the creature might still be following him. Lork knew that the creature would find and kill him if he just walks back to the mountain. His best bet was to try and find a new home. He reached back with his upper back arms and grabbed his pack, still hanging from his tail. He looked inside, there was some dirt carver meat _-he didn’t recognize the creature at all yet he immediately identified it. Lork felt strange-_ , a few canteens of water, some cloth for bandages, there were some supplies for camping, a small jar of lumaflys - _Lork was confused by this unexpected knowledge-_ , and a strangely shaped dagger. It had a curve, it’s blade was quite sharp on both sides, and the handle seemed to be makeshift. He remembers picking it up while escaping something but didn’t know where, or when, or even why, Lork was bewildered. _“Has my memory really faded? What am I doing here? What was that_ _orange_ _creature I keep recalling?”_ Lork’s head stung as if in response to his questions. Lork put his items back in his pack and hung it back around his tall with his long arms. Lork looked around one last time, although the wind had started to pick up and began to create a sandstorm, restricted Lork’s view of the area. There wasn’t much to see, but in the corner of his eye, he could’ve sworn he saw a new color. 

Lork continued traveling the empty plains, farther and farther from the ominous mountain. The wind was annoying his antennas, and the sand hit against his shell. He felt vulnerable, his antennas couldn’t sense any nearby movement because of the wind, he couldn’t see much around him, and he was out in the open. Anything could attack him without warning. He continued moving, keeping his guard up. Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound getting louder and louder. It was coming from behind him. Lork swiftly turned around, it was a creature Lork had never seen before. It was hard to make out, it had a long body, it had wings, and it was bigger than a Vengfly King _-Lork didn’t even know what that was but he instinctively compared the creature’s size to it. His head gave him a little sting-_ The flying foe charged at Lork. Lork quickly coiled his tail back, right as the creature entered his range, he released his tail at the attacker, his tail went straight through the creature’s body, instantly killing it. Lork pulled his tail back and the body slipped off. It died so quickly and so suddenly its body didn’t even realize it was dead. Its limbs and wings twitched as if they were still full of life. Then from his right, he could hear buzzing and more buzzing. 

Lork stared through the sandstorm, he could make out about 5 figures, they were getting closer, the buzzing grew louder. The sounds started to come from all around him. They were circling him. Lork quickly reached into the sandstorm with one of his claws and snapped at one of the figures. He missed. He swiped, again and again, missing every time. Lork decided to wait for them to make their move. One of the beasts lunged at Lork’s leg biting down on it. Lork quickly turned around and snapped the enemy’s head clean off. Then, another came from behind him and bit at his shell, it was ineffective. Lork grabbed the creature with his upper back arms and slammed it into the ground, then stepped on it. The next one quickly swooped by, slashing his unprotected chest and evading Lork’s swipes. Then one of them bit at his stomach and flew away. They figured out where he was vulnerable. Lork quickly bent down, using his arms as extra legs, covering his vulnerable underside. The next creature attacked, attempting to fly underneath Lork’s head and attack his chest there. Lork quickly snapped the creature in half. The 2 remaining creatures charged at Lork’s side simultaneously. Lork swung his tail around, stabbing one and killing it before it could attack. The other dug its mandibles into Lork’s body. Lork let out a cry of pain and quickly nabbed the creature out and ripped it in half. After finally dealing with them all, he inspected the bodies, stored some of its meat in his pack for a later snack, healed his wounds, and continued. 

Some time passed, Lork was getting ready to set up a small camp to sleep at. The wind began to die down, and the sandstorm subsided. Yet his antennas were still sensing movement. He turned around, a tiny bug seemed to have been following him very clumsily. It wobbled forwards and backward towards Lork, trying to keep balance due to the huge horn growing on the top of its head. Lork approached the small bug, he got a better look at it. There was a color Lork had never seen before. It was a dark red cloak wrapped around its little black body. It stood on 2 feet and had a large white head with 3 horns, 2 very small ones coming from the lower sides of the head, and one very long one coming out from the top of the creature’s head. Lork has never seen this species of bug. It appeared harmless, it didn’t carry any weaponry. It gave an empty stare, like a lost child. Lork asked the stalker _“Who are you, little thing? How long have you been following me?”_ The bug remained silent. _“What are you?”_ Lork thought to himself. _“Do you have a voice, little one?”_ The bug remained silent. _“It’s not safe out here.”_

 _“Follow me, tiny thing.”_ Lork started walking, and the little bug quickly tried to run up behind him but lost balance and tripped and fell onto the sand. Lork turned around picked up the small creature. They squirmed around in Lork’s hand as he placed him in his pouch.

The little bug gave a look around the bag and laid down to rest. Sometime passed. Lork set up a temporary shelter for himself and his new friend. He put the lumafly jar down and took his pouch off from his tail. The pointy bug woke up and stumbled it’s way over to the lumafly jar and laid down in front of it, completely entranced by the glow. _“They are interesting creatures are they not? Although, I don’t know where I got them from.”_ The bug looked up at him with the same strange stare. _“Do you have a name little one?”_ It tilted its head in a confused manner, nearly falling over in the process. _“Do you not have a name? Would you like one?”_ The tiny creature stared at him. _“How about Govi? Would you like to be called Govi?”_ The small being awkwardly wobbled its way to Lork and tightly wrapped its arms around one of Lork’s large legs. _“What are you doing Govi? Why are you holding my leg like that? Do you not like that name?”_

**_~End of Chapter 2~_ **


	3. The Black Ravine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lork explores the underground of the wastelands.

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 3 - The Black Ravine_

Lork awoke from his slumber, he looked around. The sand had been cleared away from the wind, revealing a large hole nearby. Lork raised his large body to investigate but felt a light pull on one of his legs. Govi had fallen asleep with their small arms still wrapped around Lork’s leg. Lork sighed and lightly kicked Govi with his leg. _“Awaken Govi, I have found a much better pathway than these harsh windy plains.”_ Govi sat up straight and gave a quick glance around, then stood up and wobbled towards Lork. Lork grabbed Govi and placed them in his bag. He packed the temporary shelter but kept the lumafly jar in his middle arms, as the cave was very dark. A sandstorm began to pick up, and Lork could already hear buzzing. Much much more than before. Lork looked out into the horizon to see that there was a massive swarm of Locust coming this way. Lork could fight off small groups of them but a full-on swarm? Lork crawled through the dark narrow hole, carrying Govi in his pack on his tail. Govi watched the wall of locust pass the cave entrance that was slowly getting smaller and smaller as they traveled deeper and deeper into the cave, their buzzing echoed throughout the cave. They were safe. As the 2 wanderers walked, Lork could sense movement all around him. Creatures smaller than Govi were crawling along the walls, scattering from Lork’s presence. The cold, rocky walls had strange stains that seemed to have partially melted the rocks, resulting in a sort of dent within the walls. Lork continued walking. A much larger centipede creature quietly scuttled on the ceiling up to Lork’s bag and attempted to snatch Govi. Lork sensed it and quickly reacted by slamming his tail into the cavern ceiling, smashing the thief in the process. _“I need you to tell me when things like that are happening Govi. I’m incapable of saving you every time if you’re not crying for help.”_ the cave walls began to get much wider now. Lork noticed the small bugs became less and less frequent as they traveled deeper into the cavern. _“Not many small bugs down here. Something big must be nearby.”_

Lork and Govi traveled through the twisting dark caverns until eventually, they reached a large ravine, it stretched out very far. There was a rocky pathway on the side of the ravine, it stretched long against the wall. Above there was a little bit of light coming down from the sand-covered surface faint buzzing could still be heard, but it began to die down as the swarm passed. Below was a drop into complete darkness. Curious, Lork grabbed one of the many lumaflies from out of the jar, plucked its wings off, and dropped it down into the darkness beneath them. Govi reached out to the falling creature with their small arms, trying to save it. Unfortunately, Govi was too far away. The lumafly fell down and down, lighting up the black ravine walls as it went. It was barely visible until for a split second the lumafly’s light hit a massive bug sleeping in the deepest depths of the ravine. It quickly swallowed the lumafly and the light vanished. Lork didn’t get a good look at it. Be it was already bigger than a large portion of the already massive ravine. Lork decided it’s best not to disturb it. And they continued to quietly travel through the Jet Black ravine. 

After a bit of walking, Lork reached into the bag and grabbed some dirt caver meat. He gorged it down rather quickly. And felt a sting in his head as he did. He wanted to remember the last time he ate one of these creatures, his taste buds could recognize the flavor but his mind wouldn’t allow him to recollect. _“Help yourself to any meat or water in there Govi.”_ Govi didn’t eat. _“You gotta consume something if you want to be as big as me Govi, don’t you want to be strong little one?”_ Govi still didn’t eat. Lork was beginning to get worried about Govi’s health but reassured himself that maybe Govi ate before they met. Some more time passed, the pathway was much wider than before. Lork wanted to rest but he knew this place was not safe. Lork stopped and checked on Govi, He bent his head back to look at them. Govi was still in the bag, staring down into the abyss in excitement. Govi turned their head to Lork and their eyes met. Govi was extremely happy with the way Lork looked upside down, Lork, confused, tilted his head upright and Govi seemed to realized it was not who they thought, but was still happy to see Lork. _“Did I remind you of someone you knew Govi?”_ Govi stared silently _“You seem to have a much better memory than I do, Govi, I can’t recall a thing before I ended up in this empty wasteland.”_ Suddenly, Lork could hear a sort of chirping coming from below him, it was very loud. The ground below them started rumbling.

Lork’s reflexes kicked in and he jumped up and attached himself to the ravine wall. A creature as big as Lork burst out of the black rocky floor and let out a cry. The dust settled and the fiend was revealed; a large bug, it had a long body with a few mandibles, and 2 large armored claws for digging. The entire front half of the creature was heavily protected with a tough exoskeleton. The back of the creature was a little softer and had long bent legs like the locust. 

The creature rubbed it’s back legs together creating a strange chirping noise, likely trying to warn Lork to stay out of its territory. Lork had to get through this ravine, there was no turning back now. Lork set the bag down on a low perch on the ravine wall. _“Stay here Govi. Don’t aid me, you will only hurt yourself.”_ Lork quickly jumped off the wall and towards the beast. Stabbing its soft side with his tail, bouncing off its body and landing in front of the burrowing foe. It was poisoned. _“It should be getting weaker soon, but until the creature falls ill. I must fight it.”_ Lork thought to himself. The creature shrieked and took a diving swing at Lork with its large armored digging claws. Lork Grabbed the 2 claws with his upper arms and held them in that position. The Creature began to push with more force, Lork dug his Legs into the ground and kept them there to anchor him. The creature pushed even harder. The creature was trying to pin him against the wall. 

Lork thought quickly, he bent to the side and gave the creature another stab with his tail. The creature shrieked again. And spat up acid at Lork, it missed and hit the wall behind him, staining it with a permanent dent in the ravine wall the shape of the liquid.

The creature pushed, even more, Lork bent over and snapped one of the enemy’s large legs off the creature shrieked even louder and one of its claws escaped Lork’s grip and slashed him against the soft side of his body, mortally wounding him. Lork was extremely weakened from this strike, the monster gave a triumphant scream as it finally pinned him against the wall. The large bug readied its acid spit to melt Lork’s body and kill him. 

Govi was watching. They knew that Lork would perish if this went on any longer. Govi looked around, quickly grabbed the mantis claw blade attached to Lork’s bag and jumped down the wall, and landed behind the creature. Govi swayed back and forth trying to manage the weight of both the blade and his horn. Govi swung the blade and cut the creature’s soft behind. The creature let out another shriek. It turned around, Govi was terrified. The fiend swung at Govi, slashing their body and knocking them back against the wall. Lork saw this and in pure rage tackled the creature stabbing and snapping it multiple times toward the edge of the pathway. Lork let go, the creature was still conscious despite taking so much of Lork’s poison. The creature screamed and spat another portion of acid. Lork ducked as he charged it one last time with all the force he could and pushed the creature off the edge and into the abyss, screaming the whole way down until a faint crunching noise interrupted it.

Lork turned around and ran to the now unconscious Govi, picked them, and the mantis claw blade up, grabbed the bag, and pulled out the medical clothes that he had. He wrapped them around Govi’s injury and set Govi in his bag on his tail, and he continued walking. Some time passed and Govi woke up and looked around. Lork sensed the movement and said _“Look who’s awake! I hope you’re proud of what you did back there. It was reckless and very unwise of you to ignore what I said.”_ Govi lifted their cloak to see a somewhat large cloth wrapped around where the large bug had slashed him. _“You scared me so much when you did that you know? That thing could’ve killed you. You almost did a lethal slash, however, that horn of yours is really holding you back isn’t it? Maybe I could fix that. But I want your wound to heal before we do that.”_ Govi happily stared at Lork and ducked back into the bag.

**_~End of Chapter 3~_ **


	4. A Forest of Rocky Mounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lork finds himself in a new area and meets another wanderer.

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 4 - A Forest of Rocky Mounds_

Lork had been walking through the ravine for some time now. Lork’s injury from the Mole Cricket stung with pain every step he took. He wanted to rest and tend to his wound but he knew that if he were to linger, he may encounter another one of those things. Lork was too confident and nearly died. He thought the venom would’ve made the fight a guaranteed victory. That creature had quite the endurance, and stabbing and snapping its limbs off only seemed to enrage it. It truly was a creature that proved a worthy challenge for Lork. Lork promised himself that He will find and hunt another one of these creatures, without interference, and this time, he will properly defeat it in combat and keep a part of it as a trophy. But not until his wound heals.

Lork turned his head around, Govi was still asleep, resting from his injury. _“Wake up Govi, I have a concern”_ he gently shook the bag, Govi’s long horn poked out of the top and then his head, eagerly waiting to hear Lork’s question. _“I’ve noticed you haven’t eaten anything for the entire time we’ve been together, tell me, are you alright?”_ Govi kept staring. _“Your muteness bothers me, I’m not much of a talker myself, but you haven’t spoken a word since we’ve met. I cherish the quiet but please, could you reply?”_ Govi remained silent. _“You are the most bizarre bug I’ve seen in all my life, you don’t talk, you don’t eat or drink, and you have a very strange smell to you… you smell… Smokey? Yes. A smokey tar scent. It’s odd.”_ Govi looked down to observe their body and then looked back at Lork. Govi noticed that Lork was limping, but was doing his best to hide it. _“What is it that you’re made of? It doesn’t look like flesh…”_ Lork’s talking was interrupted when he finally spotted a light coming from a large tunnel leading upwards. _“Enough chatter, there is an exit over there, we will be heading back onto the sands soon.”_

Lork crawled through the tunnel and took a peek through the tunnel’s exit. It seems that Lork had traveled quite a distance, this place was new. The ground here was much rockier than the wastelands, there was still sand, but it barely covered anything. Govi peaked out of the pack and looked around in astonishment. There were long grey rocks that reached out from the ground, almost in the shape of a nail, however, these rocks had a dull point. They towered over Lork and Govi, they were everywhere. Lork crawled out of the hole and broke a small boulder out from the ground and placed it next to the cave entrance for when he returns for his trophy. Lork was relieved the long rocks here seem to restrict the wind from being as irritating as they were in the wastelands.

He noticed many tiny bugs crawling around the large mounds, these small bugs had claws for digging, they surrounded the rock and crawled in and out of small holes they had made. Lork stared at the small beings, crawling in and out, in and out… _“Is that all they ever do in their tiny, short, lives? Crawl around a rock? They don’t look for action or anything… They just survive. Perhaps their minds are too weak to understand the bigger things in life, such as hunting and killing.”_ Lork thought to himself. As he stared, a larger centipede-like creature climbed the wall of the rock and snatched up 6 of the small bugs, and quickly crawled away and into a crack in the ground. _“Their comrades just perished, and they don’t wish to retaliate? Is this a common occurrence?”_ Lork thought. _“Weak in the mind_ **_and_ ** _weak in the heart,”_ Lork said. Govi looked at Lork, confused. 

Lork moved along, continuing to endure the pain of his injury. Some more time passed. While walking through the new area he saw many interesting things. Lork saw fossilized exoskeletons that were sometimes engraved into the ground. They had very primitive designs, weird, flat body shapes. Lork saw a small group of locust flying high above in the sky. They must’ve gotten separated from the swarm. The most astonishing sight during their travel through the new biome was a very tall, and very thin creature that walked on 6 very long legs above the towering mounds like stilts. Lork shook his bag to awaken Govi, who stuck his head out to admire the gentle giant. It walked right above the 2 wanderers, unaware of their presence.

Lork continued traveling the strange, forest of mounds. Lork saw another one of those centipede creatures, it was dead, its guts spilled on the rocky surface. Lork took a quick glance around, no sign of whatever did this. He continued traveling, ready to run at any moment, he couldn’t fight, at least not efficiently with this injury weakening him. Some more time passed, Lork felt a swift breeze past him. It didn’t feel like wind _-there was no wind here anyway, and if there was, it would’ve been pushing against his face, not from his side-_ it felt like a swift creature or a projectile of some kind. 

Lork quickly dashed behind the nearest rock pillar. He peaked around, a simple bug landed to the ground. He landed with such force and speed he slid for a little bit, kicking up some sand in the process as the friction stopped him. It was a common bug, he wielded a nail and had a strange mask attached to his head, the mask has 2 large black eyes and 2 smaller ones right above them. Wrapped around his head was a cloth, it covered the entirety of his head, only leaving his face visible. Lork crept out from behind the mound. The bug saw this and readied his nail. Lork slowly approached the bug. The bug lowered his weapon. _“What is a small, weak, common bug like yourself doing out in this place?”_ Lork asked. _“Hmm, finally, a civilized bug. My name is Quirrel, I’m a wanderer, I’ve been exploring these dull lands for quite some time now and I must ask, would you know where I could find a place known as “Hallownest?” I believe that the kingdom holds great promises for one like myself.”_

Lork’s head began to sting as if his mind had shattered into pieces at the very mention of that name. That name… “Hallownest…” it was familiar to Lork. He recognized it but didn’t remember where he had heard it from… He knew it was an important name. He thought hard about it. The pain sharpened. It was unbearable, Lork screamed in agony, all 6 of his arms reached and grasped his head, in a useless attempt to ease the stinging. _“Are you alright my large friend? What’s wrong?”_ Quirrel began to run up to Lork. Govi popped their head out from the bag and saw Lork, screaming in pain. “ _H-H-Hal-Hallownest? W-Where d-did I hear that b-bef-before? I m-must remember…”_ Lork thought. Lork collapsed onto the ground in pain. Govi hopped out of the bag and wobbled his way to Lork’s head and wrapped their arms around him, trying to help. _“I didn’t see you in that bag little one! Is he ok? Has he done this before?”_ Quirrel asked. _“Must r-r-remember… I’m t-t-tir-tired of this p-pa-pain…”_ _“H-H-Ha-Hallow-n-n-nest...”_

**~Lork blacked out.~**

_Lork had a dream, it was in his old den. It was large, it was a platform attached to the wall, it had been formed by several garapedes over time. It perched above a large open cavern, where dirtcarver hatchers flew freely. A quick and easy meal. The mechanical devices were still laying there on the ground, abandoned. He remembers when the common bugs attempted to take his home from him to build a useless contraption of some kind. He defended his home from the weak creatures. They eventually gave up and stopped building, leaving a lot of mechanical pieces laying around. It added to the scenery of his home and was a sort of trophy for him._

_Lork gave another look around his old and dusty home, he saw his large hammock made of Weaver silk, it was soft and comfy but was strong enough to hold Lork’s weight. He remembers coming to the weavers to ask them for advice and to trade goods with each other, no matter what Lork asked of them, the weavers always seemed to have an answer for him. They taught him how to properly and effectively penetrate a garapede’s thick shell, they taught him not to trust or follow any creature that appeared as his dead siblings, they even taught him how to craft objects with cloth, silk, and other materials, and to never linger around corpses for too long. Lork glanced around again. There were large_ _orange_ _eyes watching him from the darkness. Lork never felt true fear until this moment. “_ _Orange_ _beast, why are you here?!” Lork said aloud, hiding his terror. The beast crawled out of the darkness, it was a massive, shadowy creature. It stood tall on more limbs then Lork could count. It dashed at Lork, he leaped away from his home as the creature tore down the ledge he held dear. It turned to Lork in anger. It charged at him, Lork used all six of his arms to hold the monster back from crushing him. Lork then pushed it back and leaped out of the way. He stabbed the monster in one of its bloated, glowing eyes, the creature was completely unaffected. He snapped a limb off, 4 more appeared, and took that limb’s place. It was too powerful for him. Lork ran as swiftly as he could through the dark twisting caverns as the large shadowy beast crashed through, swiping at Lork. Lork reached the distant village and looked around. It was empty. All of the weavers were gone not a single trace. They abandoned Lork, left him to die. The massive_ _orange_ _-eyed beast smashed through the cavern walls and lunged at Lork. Lork accepted his fate, and stood his ground, ready to die._

Lork awoke from his nightmare, to see Quirrel and Govi, sitting by his side. It was dark, the lumafly jar was out, Govi had been staring into it for some time now. Quirrel was discussing Govi about something before stopping when he Lork awakening. Lork could hear a soft hum from vibrations in the back of his mind. Govi noticed Lork was awake, and slowly wobbled their way to him, having more trouble walking than usual due to their wound. _“Are you alright large one? I just mentioned Hallownest and you fell to the ground, it looked very painful.”_ Quirrel said. _“H-H-Hal-Hallownest… I remember now, I remember everything.”_ Lork said, attempting to raise his body but slipping and falling back to the ground from the stinging of his mind, and the wound on his side. _“What is your name large hunter? I’ve heard of your kind from somewhere but never actually saw one of you up close.”_ Quirrel said. _“L-Lork. And my small friend’s name is Govi. They don’t talk.”_ Lork said, his voice was weak and much raspier than usual, he grabbed the canteen, almost empty now, and drank from it to help his voice. Qurriel glanced at Govi. _“Ah, I see. They are quite a strange bug. They stood by your side the entire time you had lost conscience.”_ Lork looked at Govi, who was silently watching him. _“I remember it now, Deepnest, my home, and the_ _orange_ _beast that took it… I remember… Thank you, small traveler. My memory has been restored. Or at least most of it…”_ Lork’s head stung in response. _“I must repay you. Please, rest with us. I have food and water.”_

Lork pulled some of the weaver string from his bag, he grabbed a miniature needle for sewing and stitched the wound shut. It hurt Lork but he knew it would make it better. Lork looked at Govi _“Govi, please, you must allow that wound to heal.”_ Govi pointed at Lork’s now stitched scar on his chest. _“Ignore that Govi, I’m fine, I’m strong, I can continue. But you, however, aren’t. Please, lay down.”_ Govi looked at the cloth wrapped around their small black body. Then sat down beside Lork. Qurriel laid back against the opposite side of Lork’s large body and rested. Lork reached back into his pack and grabbed the last bit of dirtcarver meat. _-he wanted to wait until he was out of dirtcarver meat before trying out the locust meat, it seemed to have fewer juices in them.-_ He offered some of it to Govi, Govi shook their head. Lork then offered it to Quirrel, who happily accepted Lork’s offer. Lork looked back at Govi who stared at Lork, waiting for something. _“Would a story help you rest?”_ Govi nodded their head in excitement. Lork told Govi a variety of stories, some from his past, and others he heard from the weavers. Govi seemed to enjoy every one of them.

Lork turned to Quirrel, who was still laying back on Lork’s other side. _“You wanted to know where to find Hallownest, correct? That way, keep going until you reach the cavern entrance, go through that cavern. Avoid the sandy wastelands if you can, there are a hostile species of bug that swarms in those areas, too many for even me to handle, however, the smaller groups are easier to deal with. And watch for mole crickets in the caverns, they have a surprisingly large amount of endurance.”_ Lork said as he pointed to his injury. _“Ah, I see my friend. Thank you for the advice. I will surely enjoy the sights of Hallownest, I’ve heard so much about it, and I’m excited to see what secrets it may hold for one such as myself.”_ Lork’s mind still stung whenever the name of that kingdom was mentioned. He didn’t know much about the kingdom that was structured above and around his home, other than that they didn’t like Deepnest. They found it to be too dangerous, too hostile for them. They were too weak was the problem. They made a deal with the mantises to prevent Deepnest from spreading more, as the place progressively grows as dirtcarvers and many other creatures of Deepnest will continue to breed and dig to find new territory which results in Deepnest growing and growing... Confining and isolating Deepnest meant the creatures that lived there would get even more hostile, more territorial. Lork recalls asking the Weavers about the kingdom that surrounded them, but their answers never truly satisfied him. Lork must’ve gone too deep into thought, as after he stopped testing his newfound memories of his past, both Qurriel and Govi had fallen asleep. Lork decided that he should rest as well now. 

Quirrel tapped Lork on the head, awakening him. Lork lifted part of his long body using his lower arms and stared at Quirrel. _“I must resume my journey, thank you for the meal, and it’s been a while since I rested so comfortably,”_ Quirrel explained. Govi awoke and had seen that Quirrel was leaving. They stumbled trying to approach Quirrel, and let themselves fall into Quirrel’s open arms. They both tightly wrapped arms around each other. _“Stay safe little Govi, and listen to Lork, he knows what's best for you,”_ Quirrel said as Govi hugged him. _“What are you two doing with your arms? Why do you do that?”_ Lork asked. _“Lork, it is called a hug, it’s how bugs express their care for each other,”_ Quirrel replied. _“Hug? Care? Why must I show my care to Govi? I’m quite sure they are already aware of my care for them. Expressing it is unnecessary.”_ Lork responded. _“And be sure to teach him these things Govi,”_ Quirrel said with his arm on Govi’s shoulder. Quirrel walked away and quickly disappeared into the grey horizon. 

_“Alright, let's keep moving Govi.”_ Lork stood up and grabbed Govi and the supplies lying around him and put them in his bag on his tail. He looked around and had just now noticed that they were in a different spot than when they rested. Did they move? Or did the mounds…? _“Likely my awful memory,”_ Lork reassured himself. He continued moving. Lork remembered to position any smaller boulders behind him as a trail to get back to the cave. He learned that trick from the weavers, who would leave a line of web behind them when they traveled to make sure they can find their way back if they must, but seeing that Lork can’t produce silk, and is short on weaver string, these large rocks will do.

Lork looked at the bottom of one of the large as they continued traveling and noticed some much more pointed rocks coming out from underneath them, about six. _“Strange.”_ Lork thought. Three on both sides. That is when Lork realized it. He walked up to the large mound and gave the pointed rocks underneath a kick. There was a rumble, then a loud groan coming from the mound. The pointed rocks slid into the large rocky mound. And then the mound raised itself up, revealing a large bug underneath with an exoskeleton made of rocks. Lork had never known that creatures could be made of stone. It had 2 large yellow and black eyes and they both stared into Lork. The bug was about the same size as Lork. The rocky creature stomped the ground, signaling all the other mound bugs to rise. The herd began to slowly move through the wastelands, kicking up lots of dust in the process. The small bugs that lived in the mounds seemed completely unaffected by the movement and continued to move in and out of the holes in the large rock. Lork decided it would be best to follow them, as they seemed to know where they are going. The bugs didn’t appear to mind Lork tagging along, and Govi seemed to be enjoying the sight.

After a long, walk, the huge herd of bugs reached a large lake. It stretched long into the blurry, grey horizon. The rocky beasts crowded around the massive pool of water. The water looked greyish black. Lork wandered off to the side, away from the creatures. They seemed to get very territorial and fight each other over the water. Lork filled up his canteen and let Govi rest on the sandy ground and the 2 wanderers stared into the distance of the lake. It seemed to stretch on forever, without an end in sight.

There were bizarre bugs in the water, some trying to crawl onto the sandy surface. They had black shells over them like helmets and it covered their entire body, making them look like walking bowls that had flipped. They had a pointy tail without any joints to move it and small spikes were pointing out from the shell. They varied in size but the bigger ones were in deeper water. Sometimes one would end up getting flipped onto their back, with no way of getting back up. Govi would wobble up to the creature and flip them. _“Why help these creatures Govi? They clearly have a physical flaw, why not just let the ones with the flaw perish and the ones who find a way around the problem survive?”_ Lork said. Govi pointed at their horn. _“Oh, you are right little one, I’m guilty of doing the same thing, aren’t I?”_ Govi nodded their head, trying not to fall over. Some time past and they continued sitting and admiring the view. _“Isn’t this nice Govi? I’ve never seen such beauty and peace. And of all the places to find it, it was in this endless, sandy place.”_ Govi looked up at Lork and then back at the lake. The water seemed to rise and attempt to stretch farther but always ended up pulling back. It tried over and over. The sound was nice. 

**_~End of Chapter 4~_ **

_(credit to my online friends Tia and Muff for making wonderful drawings for this chapter!)_


	5. The Full Swarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Govi reveals their secret.

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 5 - The Full Swarm_

Lork and Govi spent a while by the massive lake. Lork hunted the larger and older horseshoe crabs that thrived in the deeper waters _-when he was out of Govi’s sight of course-_ , as well as other aquatic bugs such as some small thin bugs that appeared to be able to walk on the water, and a much bigger species that dwelled in the deeper waters, their entire bodies were heavily armored and have points reaching out from their shell, and their claws were very similar to Lork’s. Perhaps they are old and long-forgotten relatives? However, one claw was always bigger than the other. Lork never got to kill any that wandered onto land, only severely wound them before they fled the battle, running away sideways for some strange reason. Hunting them in the water where they have an advantage over Lork is foolish, and Lork had already learned his lesson from before. It was rare for them to come out onto the land anyway, and they only seemed to come out when it was dark. None the less they proved to be good for Lork to practice against Lork grew tired of chasing them and decided to only attack them when they are cornered.

Some more time passed. Lork felt like he could live here forever. Lork frequently left Govi behind within the shelter when he went out wandering the shoreline. When Lork left, he made sure to remind Govi not to leave the shelter and that they needed rest. He always made sure to leave Govi with the mantis claw blade when he left. It wouldn’t do much to protect Govi if there was danger, but it was better than leaving them there with nothing at all. Sometimes when Lork returned Govi would be very fatigued, despite no signs that anything had occurred. Sometimes Govi would be holding something that was laying outside the tarp. It was strange. Govi didn't seem to be bothered by these things at all. 

Lork wasn’t sure if something was wrong and that he should be very concerned for Govi or not until at one point when Lork returned from another exploration of the grey lake, he came back to see Govi standing outside the tarp, hunched over and weakened. In front of Govi was the corpse of one of the large aquatic creatures that always walked sideways. Lork picked up Govi and put them back within the safety of the shelter. Lork examined the corpse. It was quite odd. The crab had dozens of small holes and slashes pierced into its body. All of these wounds leaked a strange white substance that floated out and into the air. The holes seemed to have come from multiple angles. Lork analyzed the area around the crab. The sandy shoreline showed a history of what had happened, it was like a little archive. The footprints suggested that the crab had crawled out onto land and approached the shelter. It then, however, turned around midway and retreated into the ocean before being pierced multiple times in the head. It wasn’t instant. There were signs of struggle in the sand but it was over very quickly. Lork had never seen anything like this before. Why did this massive creature retreat? They only retreat when their lives are at stake. They take about 7 lethal stings from Lork to weaken on to a point where they would give up and retreat into the lake. These creatures were very confident in their ability, and for one to give up so quickly like that is out of the ordinary, to say the least. On the bright side, Lork finally got to pull a small leg off to keep in his bag as a trophy, Lork was tired of losing them in the lake right before he could finish them off. Lork decided that he should stay with Govi more and help them heal. 

Govi still needed time to recover from that wound, Lork began to try to help teach Govi how to maintain the balance of their horn. _“Govi, I have some questions for you. I need you to answer them before we resume our journey soon.”_ Govi looked up at Lork. _“My first query would be if you are hiding something from me. You’ve been acting strange. And I have not a single clue as to what you have been doing when I am not here.”_ Lork gave another glance at the mysterious large crab corpse. There were horseshoe crabs crawling all over it now, eating the flesh before it fully rotted. Govi looked at the sand in the ground and then made a hand motion Lork hadn’t seen before. Govi then proceeded to draw a strange figure in the sand. _“What is that supposed to mean, little one?”_ Govi pointed at the drawing and then at the decaying crab. _“A creature looking like that killed the crab? It looks weak. I highly doubt something like that could scare off such a beast, let alone kill it. Thank you for responding anyway. I’ll be cautious of that thing if I ever encounter it.”_ Govi made another motion Lork didn’t understand. _“My next question is are you ok with me leaving you behind here while I go off to hunt a mole cricket? I think my wound has fully healed. I’ve been itching for a fight with another one of those creatures, however, I don’t want you intervening this time. Once I get my mole cricket trophy we can resume our peregrination through the sands, it looks like your wound has almost fully healed as well.”_ Govi shook their head horizontally. _“I don’t know what that means Govi, but I assure you, it's fine,_ _I know what I’m dealing with now. I just need that trophy and we can move on. I’m sure you are safe here. Whatever that thing that saved you was, it doesn’t seem to have noticed you, so it’s the perfect protection for you while I go for my hunt. Take the claw blade, I’ll be back soon I assure you.”_ Govi got up to stop Lork but he gently pushed Govi’s horn with his tail, causing Govi to lose balance and fall over. _“I don’t need you getting hurt anymore Govi. I’ll be back.”_ Lork dashed farther from the shelter and over to harsh sandy plains, following his trail of rocks that he had left.

Some time passed but eventually, Lork emerged triumphantly from the dark tunnel and back onto the sands as he made his way to the grey lake. It was a much easier hunt, as Lork had been much more prepared this time. He put his trophy into his bag for later.

Something was wrong though, Lork looked around, he noticed that the wind began to pick up, and the sand was starting to get caught in the wind. _“No… Not now… not here…”_ Lork said aloud. The sky begins to fade away as the sand storm picked up speed. This sandstorm was much harsher than the one he encountered before, there was no way this kind of wind speed could be natural. _“NO!”_ Lork screamed in anger. The sandstorm was so harsh he could faintly make out his own claws and limbs. Lork reached into his bag and took out the lumafly jar. He shook the glass container to scare the creatures contained inside into producing more light and he set the jar onto the ground. Lork looked around, he could see more than he originally could. He tried to sense what was around him but could only feel the harsh tingling feeling that the wind gives. For a while, Lork stood completely still, in a ready position for any attack. There was complete silence. Not a sound was made other than the violent howling of the wind. At first, he believed he was safe if he just stayed still. Lork began to hear the humming noise of many wings. Some chirping could be heard as well. It was coming from his side. Lork turned his large body around to face the noise. The humming was growing quite loud. Eventually, the noise grew and the hum began to change into the sound of thousands of dry crusty wings hitting each other as they flapped rapidly. Soon whatever it was was nearly visible. It was colossal, and the dark figure was coming towards Lork fast.

Soon, the outline was visible. But Lork had no time to react by the time it was fully visible. It was a massive swarm of locusts. Then right as Lork realized this, the swarm completely engulfed him. The light from the lumafly jar was completely covered by the large black bodies of the locust. There were thousands of Locust flying past Lork, they all varied in size, ranging from a mantis youngling to a vengfly king. Some of them violently pierced and slashed on his sides as they flew by. Lork could hardly make out what was going on, it was so dark and the amount of movement his antennae were picking up made it difficult to stay focused. There was too much motion, Too much noise in Lork’s head to fully analyze the situation. Luckily it seems they hadn’t figured out about his underside yet, as most targeted his sturdy shell. Lork flailed his tail and limbs around trying to kill as many as he could. He snatched as many as he could out of the sky with his long arms and threw them to the floor with violent amounts of force. He swung his claws around and snapped the head and limbs off of as many as Lork could. And his tail stung, smacked, and stabbed However the sheer number of the locusts easily overwhelmed him. No matter how many he violently killed, many more would keep coming, it seemed like an endless stream of them. With each jab and slash, they grew closer to finding out where to properly strike Lork.

The sight of the swarm must have frightened the lumaflies, as they started to glow even brighter than before. The light shined through the lumafly jar like a beacon and the locusts flew back in fear. The swarm stopped flying directly at him and instead began to circle Lork. He was in the eye of the storm now. Lork could see a little bit better. He looked around him. There were many locust corpses surrounding him and they already began to be buried in the sandy ground. Lork couldn’t move because of the wall of creatures that had trapped him, if Lork were to even try to walk out of the circle, he would likely be hacked to bits from the unremitting attacks. Lork wondered why they stopped charging at them. It seemed that the locusts don't enjoy bright lights. They must have become too adapted to hunt in the dark grey sandstorms.

Lork took this opportunity while he could and grabbed the jar while the lumaflies were still radiant with light. Lork bolted straight through the wall of locusts who moved out of the way from the light. He dashed along the sands as the swarm followed him closely. If he were to slow down for even a moment they would likely catch up to him again. He managed to make it a little closer to the Grey Lake, Lork could faintly make out one of the large rocks in the sand as one he had placed there himself. It was still hard to see where exactly Lork was heading but it was much more preferable than staying in the eye of the storm where they can attack him from all sides. The light of the lumaflies began to dim again. Lork panicked and shook the jar some more. The lumaflies had drained up all of their energy and were tired. Their light only increased by a little bit before beginning to dim again. Smaller groups of locusts began to fly ahead of the swarm and caught up with Lork. He couldn’t stop running, if he did the swarm would catch up. So instead he twisted his upper half around to face the foes behind him, he managed to impale each of them with his tail as they flew close. Lork turned his upper half back towards where he was going.

Lork had to stop running, he was wasting energy and if they caught up to him when he . The rest of the swarm finally caught up to him and began to circle him again. Some locusts flew out from the swarm that surrounded him and would recklessly dive at Lork, getting slaughtered swiftly. It began to tire him even more as they kept coming and coming. While Lork was distracted by other locusts, a smaller one managed to impale his underbelly with its mandibles. Lork cried out in pain and slammed one of his claws down onto the creature. The other locusts had seen this and quickly realized his soft spot. _“Damn. These creatures already figured it out.”_ Lork said to himself. Lork swiftly changed strategies as the locusts did theirs and got down on all of his limbs to cover his vulnerable underside as he did before with the small group he encountered. At first, it proved very effective, some locusts charged at the back of his tail expecting a soft spot as well only to discover that Lork’s shell completely covers his tail. Lork slammed his tail violently into the sand, crushing their bodies, killing them instantly. As the lumafly’s light fully dimmed, the swarm became relentlessly aggressive again, they completely engulfed Lork like before, flying so fast the noise drowned out all the other sounds. There was nothing to hear other than the loud buzzing and screeching of the locusts as they flew past Lork’s head, making small nicks and scratches as they flew by. Lork immediately reacted to this by changing his strategy again. He laid his tail flat onto the ground and tucked in his legs, he set his head flat onto the sand and put his large claws over his head to protect it. This way, only his shell was exposed. He didn’t dare move to retaliate now, it was too risky. He had no choice but to just stay still and pray they can’t pierce his shell. If he were to rise up at all now he would be too overwhelmed when they all target his stomach. Hunkering down into this position was his only option, he only barely outran the swarm earlier and they seemed to have more stamina than Lork. There was no plan after this, if they find a flaw in his shell now Lork can only flee to try to buy a little more time. 

Lork laid still on the sandy ground. There was only the sound of the violent wind howling and the locusts’ flapping and screeching as they continued to endlessly wail on his shell as they flew by. Lork could feel his shell weakening as the faint pain from their strikes began to sharpen slowly. There was nothing Lork could do about this other than endure the pain. Lork told himself that if the pain sharpened to an unbearable point then he would just have to dash away as fast as he can. Would he even have the chance to run when he got up? They could just kill him the second he raised his body. Thousands of Locusts swarming underneath him, too many to stop all at once, all ripping and tearing up his soft side the moment he arose to flee. The mental images of it worried him. 

The pain started to sting a little more, it was slow but Lork could tell the difference. Lork thought hard about everything he had done in his life. It seemed likely he wasn’t going to survive this. Lork thought about the weavers, he thought about all the stories and legends they told him. Lork was a scorpion, Lork’s kind was known to have very good memories. He could name every single thing that had ever happened in his life in incredibly precise detail. It was both a burden and a blessing to him. The weavers told him secrets, curses, and spells that could not be trusted to be handled safely if it was written in silk or on stones. Most of them were useless information, at least for Lork, as he lacked the willpower and focus needed to utilize these, There were some that Lork wished he could forget. They always haunted Lork, some were rather otherworldly. But the weavers trusted him to contain the information, even if it is useless or discomforting for him. 

Lork thought about his species. His siblings must all be dead, and it’s unlikely that another scorpion of his kind would be still roaming around. _“I must be the last one.”_ Lork thought to himself. _“I guess there is nothing I can do about that other than try my best to leave as big as a mark on this world as possible, so we are remembered. I guess I’ve already failed at that mission…”_ Lork’s heart sank. _“Govi must be the last of their kind as well, strange that two dying species would meet out here.”_

Lork thought about Govi, the strange, weak, and bizarre little bug that he unwillingly adopted. He thought about how Govi was right. This little hunt was not worth the risk. Govi will be waiting for Lork’s return until the end of time. He shouldn’t have let his desire to hunt get in the way like that. The stinging from his shell started to hurt. _“I can withstand this for a little longer, but soon I will have no choice but to test fate.”_ Lork thought to himself.

As the pain increased, Lork readied himself to flee, if he rises fast enough before the locusts can react he may have a chance to escape. Suddenly, the locusts began to give shrieks of terror. Something happened. The Locusts stopped scraping at Lork’s shell. Something else entered the swarm. Something had scared them. Lork raised his neck a little to look around, he saw a bright white beacon piercing through the dark and ruthless sandstorm. It shined so brightly Lork could finally see around him, although the dense sandstorm still limited him. He saw the Locusts moving at the bright light to attack it. There were bursts of light as he faintly heard Locusts screaming and flapping their wings as they circled the white beacon. 

There were more shining bursts of light, as the sandstorm began to subside Lork began to catch glimpses of white figures of light. The swarm began to retreat and as the swarm flew away into the distance, Lork raised his weakened body, he looked at the damage the Locusts had done to his shell, there were countless small cuts engraved into his shell, they seemed to have worn away an entire layer of Lork’s shell. He looked back at the white lights. Lork grabbed the lumafly jar and placed it back into his bag and moved towards the source of the light. As more Locusts fled he could make out the figures. They were a bright white color with strange body forms. They had 2 sharp arms with pointed ends and 2 sharp legs with pointed ends. All around them were bright white particles that were moving into the beings’ bodies. The particles were coming from one source. There was one white figure that stood still holding the hand of someone Lork didn’t recognize at first. 

It was Govi. Govi just stood there staring through everything in pure concentration as the white beings were fighting off the remaining locusts. Govi didn’t even seem to be aware of Lork. Behind his cloak was the mantis blade. There were white particles flowing outwards from Govi’s body and into the light beings. There was this odd and mysterious feeling Lork got from looking at the white particles in the air, he didn't know how to describe it. It was a strange spectacle, the white beings made odd ringing and arcane noises. It didn’t sound like anything a bug would make.

  
  


The bright figures rapidly slashed and pierced the locusts’ bodies. After the locusts were taken care of the bright figures began to disappear rapidly. Finally, the one holding Govi’s hand dispersed and Govi lost balance of their horn and fell to the ground weakened. Govi seemed to have lost consciousness; it looked like whatever Govi had done drained him severely. Lork carefully picked up Govi’s unconscious body. _“Thank you, little one… It seems you really_ **_were_ ** _hiding something from me. But I should guess that you’re going to need time to recover. What you did took a lot of energy from you. I think you pushed yourself too hard.”_ Lork set Govi down in his bag and put the mantis blade back as well. _“Looks like that wound of yours has healed. I think you might finally be ready soon”_

Lork traveled back to the distant lake, packed up the tarp he had left behind as well as his other supplies, and walked back onto the desolate sands. He looked back at the vast grey lake one last time before finally heading onwards. 

  
**_~End of Chapter 5~_ **

_~Special thanks to my friend Hora for drawing beautiful cover art for me to use!~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of Govi's spell is Unremitting Guardians. I just felt like that should be established.


	6. The Hollow

**_Lork_ **

_Chapter 6 - The Hollow_

The dreary and dark grey sky loomed over Lork as always. Despite being out in these harsh empty lands for some time, he will never get used to the sky. He missed having the comfort of looking up and seeing the cavern ceiling. He missed knowing exactly how high up the area above his head went. And certainly missed not having any sand and wind blowing at his antennae all the time. Lork had been trekking without rest for a while now. Although he could barely tell if he was making any progress. These plains hardly had any visible landmarks. Lork stopped for a moment to check his surroundings. 

The only notable thing that was around him was a corpse of a rather odd-looking bug. With his claw, he lifted the body up by one of its arms. The holes and cracks in the shell leaked out sand as it was lifted. Attached to the body was a pouch full of useless junk. With his upper left arm, he took the bag off the bug and dropped the body onto the ground. Lork immediately screeched and dropped the bag, accidentally stepping on the bug corpse in the process. Lork’s arm had stung with sharp pain, almost like the joints in his arm had thorns engraved in them at all angles. Lork twisted his upper left arm around and bent it to figure out where it originated from, only to hear a clicking sound emanate from it when he twirled it around a certain way. 

Lork noticed that his other joints were beginning to feel loose as well. Lork was finally reaching adulthood. His kind lose their arms as well as their extra pair of legs when their claws are fully developed. Lork’s juvenile arms and back legs will begin to rot from the inside and eventually fall off, something scorpions are proud of. When a scorpion loses it’s juvenile limbs they are finally seen as an equal among scorpions. Lork did not feel proud. He felt alone. This achievement was rather bittersweet for Lork. He stood there, silently contemplating these things to himself for some time.

Lork eventually snapped out of his deep thought, he looked down towards the grey sandy ground, he could see the bug corpse he accidentally stepped on. The shell of the bug had completely caved in on itself, the insides of the shell had been hollowed out. There were no remnants of what was inside before. It had all turned to sand. Lork glanced at the bag and instead picked it up with one of his claws. Lork tried to reach inside the bag with his other claw but it couldn’t fit. Lork decided to rip the bag open instead. Useless papers full of trivial information immediately flew out and were caught in the wind, they fluttered away into the sky. A few small trinkets fell to the ground. Lork carefully picked up a medallion that had fallen out. It had a small engraving that was difficult to read. Lork opened the medallion to see an illustration of the corpse with a bug that looked similar to it. Lork tossed the medallion behind him without looking. _“Junk.”_ he murmured to himself. He then continued looking through the objects. Tossing all of the useless things behind him. _“What a fool. What kind of bug brings these useless objects with them in a place like this? These simple bugs have no logic. Even after death, they waste my time as usual.”_ Lork said in a harsh tone. Lork continued his trek. 

Some time had passed. Lork grew tired and stopped to rest for a little bit after the wind had died down. He curled his body in a circle, grabbed his pack off his tail with one of his claws. He grabbed a chunk of horseshoe crab meat he had saved and ate it. The meat was much juicier than the locust meat. Locust meat was extremely dry and bland. Lork took out the lumafly jar and set it down on the sand. Lork glanced into the bag to see Govi. Govi peeked out of the bag, nearly falling over in the process. _“Little one, you’ve awakened. Good. I would like to speak to you.”_ Lork said. Govi stared at Lork. _“Govi, while you were dreaming I have made something to aid you. I noticed that you have trouble walking with that heavy horn of yours.”_ Lork revealed in his claw a stone with leather wrapped around it _“It is a counterweight for your horn, I made it while you were resting, I believe you are ready for it.”_ Lork picked Govi up and set them down in the sand, then wrapped the counterweight around Govi’s horn, attaching it to the back of Govi’s head. _“Before you try this out Govi, I want you to swear you will not use that spell of yours unless I request you to, I do not wish for you to harm yourself by using a spell you have not fully grasped yet. I’ll discuss this new ability of yours with you later.”_ Govi nodded and then got up and tried to walk. After a few attempts, they finally began to walk normally. Govi walked towards Lork and put their arms around one of Lork’s legs. _“What is wrong? Why do you do this to me so often?”._ Govi stood with their arms around Lork’s leg for a while and then went on to practice walking more. Some time passed and Lork had set his head down and began to rest while Govi was still experimenting with their new counterweight. Govi had just figured out how to run and was frantically sprinting around Lork in a circle, still occasionally tripping. _“Stop,”_ Lork said as he picked Govi up by their horn with his claw and set them in his bag. 

Lork awoke and lifted his head up to peer at his surroundings. He then put the lumafly jar back into his bag. Lork stretched his arms to see if they were still hurting like before when he noticed that his upper left arm, middle right, middle left arm, and his left lower arm had fallen off. There was no scar or mark on his body on the spot the arms used to be. His back legs had begun to hurt as well, so they would likely fall off soon. Lork checked his bag. Govi was inside, warm, safe, and still resting. Lork picked up the lumafly jar and packed it away. Lork looked at his surroundings. A barren plain still stretched far in every direction he looked. Lork raised his body, this time struggling with his back legs aching in pain, but he managed to get up nonetheless and continued walking. 

Some time passed and Govi awoke from their slumber. Govi looked around and then proceeded to rock the bag they were in back and forth to get Lork’s attention. Lork stopped walking and bent his head back to face Govi. _“What?”_ Lork said in a slightly irritated tone. Govi pointed their arm towards the sand and leaped up and down repeatedly. _“Hm? ...You want some sand?”_ Govi shook their head horizontally. _“What is that supposed to mean?”_ Govi pointed at their head and did a strange motion with their arms. _“Do… you desire to get out of the bag and walk?”_ Govi shook their head vertically. _“Your weird movements do not answer my question.”_ Govi then tried to climb out of the bag on their own. They managed to crawl over the side and fell before Lork caught them in the air with his claws. _“Be more careful Govi, you could injure yourself.”_ Lork then set Govi down on the sand. _“There, you are on the sand. Is this what you wanted?”_ Govi shook their head vertically, nearly falling face-first into the sand in the process but managing to balance their horn in time. Lork, still confused by the odd motions Govi made with their head, continued walking and then stopped to turn his head around to check if Govi was following. Which they were. Govi was walking alongside Lork. For a while, the two silently walked together.

The wind was slowly dying down. And progressively the further they went the less sand there was on the ground, the more rocky ground peeked out from the sand, until eventually there was hardly any sand. The two wanderers kept going. Govi stopped and began to poke at Lork with their horn. Lork turned his large head around to face Govi _“What is it? Do you want to rest in my bag?”_ Govi pointed at a part of Lork’s body that used to have an arm attached to it. _“I am growing Govi, I do not need these arms anymore, a portion of my limbs fall off when I mature. They are rotting from the inside Govi, see?”_ Lork proceeded to tear off his lower right arm with one of his claws. Govi looked shocked. _“It does not hurt, it's rather natural.”_ Lork then dropped the hollow rotten remains of the arm onto the jagged terrain. Govi approached it and stared at it for a moment before running to catch up with Lork. 

More time passed. The ground below them became less rough and more polished and flat. They kept walking. Lork suddenly heard a small rupture in the ground below him. Lork immediately stopped walking and picked Govi up by the horn with his claw and placed them in his bag on his tail. _“Something about this place is not right. Stay inside the bag.”_ Something was wrong about this place and Lork knew it, but could not identify what it was. Lork scanned the area for some kind of sign. Lork resumed walking, this time, however, in a very slow and cautious manner. Lorks eyes darted around every spot of the area, looking for potential threats. The ground below him made another noise as if it was wailing for Lork to turn back. Lork continued this time even slower. He heard the ground began to crack and crumble the farther he went. As Lork traversed farther he noticed that there were parts in the ground that had broken in a strange way, there were cracks in the ground all around it. Lork approached the odd-looking hole but stopped when he heard even more cracking noises come from beneath him. Lork peered into the hole but made sure not to walk any closer. There was a rather revolting smell emanating from it, like rancid meat and decay. Inside the hole there were no edges. _“Could it even be called a hole if it had no sides?”_ Lork thought to himself. The border of the hole that was imprinted on the surface was jagged and more angular than most holes. Inside the hole was pitch black. It almost looked bottomless. 

Lork’s curiosity for the anomaly grew. He slowly, and ever so cautiously, stepped forward a bit. Just enough to be able to stick his head inside the hole. The ground beneath him made another sound of crust shifting. And he looked around inside. The smell was much stronger in the hole, it was so strong of a scent Lork’s antennae curled up in disgust, it was a revolting scent but it only added fuel to Lork’s interest. The air in the hole was dense and stuffy, but Lork looked around anyway. The inside of the hole was colossal. There were massive, black pillars that vertically reached up and stretched out at its top, and formed the ceiling of the hole and the ground that Lork stood on. The closest pillar was only a few steps away from where Lork was standing. There were countless others and they all looked the same. Although some of the pillar-like structures had broken as well as the portion of the ceiling it was supposed to support. There was not much randomness to where they were located, they looked orderly, too orderly to be bug made. Light sprinkled in from the ceiling of the foul-smelling pit via cracks and holes in the ground on the surface. Lork listened carefully and could hear very faint chirping from different bugs coming from below, and he could just barely make out the sound of chewing. The rotten smell of the abyss below him became unbearable, Lork raised his head out of the hole in the hollow ground and took a few steps back so he was at the most stable ground. 

_“I may be too heavy for this hollow ground, it could break if I attempted to step on a thin and weak part of the ground.”_ Lork looked around and rushed to devise a plan. Many different ideas flew through his mind until he realized something. The ground had not broken under Lork’s weight yet. So that must have meant that the beginning of this smooth black expanse had many more pillars inside all closer together and was more stable. But as he progressed farther the pillars must have grown distant. Lork must have reached the center of this hollow landscape, where the pillars are farthest from each other, so if he managed to cross the center it should be more stable farther on, and perhaps reach the end and return to the sandy plains. Lork had already memorized the pattern of the pillars so all he had to do was jump to each one. _“The ground can hardly hold my weight, if I leaped onto the ground a pillar was at it would likely cause the pillar to collapse from the impact along with the ground… This complicates things.”_ Lork thought to himself. He would need to figure out a way to walk across, it was his only option. 

Lork decided that it was possibly due to his slow pace earlier that was also a factor for the ground not breaking earlier. So, if Lork was just slow and careful, he could walk across to each pillar. Lork turned around to check Govi who was still in the bag, giving Lork a very concerned stare. _“It is fine Govi, I will get us out of this place,”_ Lork said to Govi in an oddly reassuring voice they had never heard from him. 

Lork began to carefully walk around the nearby hole he had peered into earlier in a slow and even pace, only stopping when he heard the ground crack and shift. Lork reached the next spot where he believed a pillar was underneath him. Then he continued, step by step, the ground cracked more frequently, the holes on the surface appeared more often and increased in size. The rotten stench filled the air, escaping from the holes and flying up into the grey sky almost like smoke. With each careful step, Lork took he felt more and more unsure of his survival. He continued moving, however, determined to get across this hollow death trap. 

Suddenly the cracking grew loud, the noise came from all sides Lork immediately stopped moving, he could hear the crust shifting and a distant piece of the ground broke and fell under, but it was nowhere near Lork, so from the looks of it he was safe. For a moment, the cracking noises stopped. Lork sighed in relief. And for just a moment, Lork let his guard down. Then, the cracking noises grew even louder than before. The ground below him was going to break off and fall. Lork panicked, _“Govi ready yourself!”_ Lork exclaimed, then he bolted as fast as he could, cracks in the ground tailed him from behind and curved around him, the ground he was standing on broke off and fell into the pit, Lork jumped up off the falling piece and tried to land at where he believed the next safe spot would be. But when he landed the ground rumbled, even more, the pillar underneath the surface collapsed from the impact of his landing, and a large part of the ground the pillar was supporting tilted to the side. Before it completely flipped over, Lork managed to run up it and leap off of the platform, this time he did not know where he would land, he did not have time to try to find a spot to leap to, he just leaped. This time when he landed, the ground immediately shattered, Lork reached out with his claws and grabbed the edge of the hole. The ground he was holding onto was not as thin so he had time before it broke. Lork’s tail was pointing down, his pack, with Govi inside, was going to slide off his tail. Lork quickly raised his tail up to stop the bag from falling off, but in the process, the edge of the surface he was holding onto with his claws broke off, and in a desperate attempt to save himself Lork reached out to grab the unbroken portion edge again with his right upper arm, but he screamed in pain as even gripping something with his decaying arm sent pain coursing through his body, Lork’s upper right arm broke of his body, it wasn't strong enough to hold his weight. Lork fell into the pit as he looked at his last juvenile arm, still gripping that piece of the edge, going farther and farther from him as he fell. Lork quickly curled his tail around to reach his belly which was facing up as he fell, he tightly grasped the bag with Govi inside with his claws in hopes that it would protect them from the fall. The light from the ceiling was rather distant now, and the horrible smell grew stronger as they fell. 

**_~Lork blacked out~_ **

Something was touching him. Lork slowly regained conscience, whatever touched him scurried away. His head was throbbing in pain and he felt dizzy. The ground Lork was laying on was soft, squishy, and… moist? Lork took a deep breath and quickly regretted it. The horrid, nauseating, and disgusting smell was at its strongest form down here. Lork was a very developed, serious hunter. But this smell was so terrible, so absolutely repulsive that even he couldn’t stop himself from gagging. Around him he could hear countless simple and mindless bugs, chirping, squeaking, buzzing, and crawling. But he could not see them or sense their movements. He realized he was laying on his antennae because he landed on them during the fall. That's when Lork remembered that he had fallen. Lork jolted his head up in a panic and checked his bag which was still in his claws, he looked inside to see that everything including Govi was still there, who was awake inside the bag, shaking. Lork poked Govi, silently ensuring their safety, they stopped shaking after this. Lork could sense movement all around him. He grabbed the lumafly jar with his claw and pulled it out of the bag. The moment the lumafly’s light left the bag and covered the area around Lork, a few locusts flew away almost instantly, all of them screeching. They did not seem interested in Lork, only startled by the light. There were some new bugs Lork had never encountered before down here. Unlike the locust, the light did not phase them at all, but they did not seem to care about Lork either. They only cared about the ground that had broken his fall. They were eating the squishy ground Lork was currently laying on. Which led to Lork curiously looking down and shining the lumafly jar’s light onto the ground...

Immediately Lork got up off the “ground” and up to his feet and put his pack on his tail in a state of repulse. It was disgusting, Lork had finally figured out why the hollow pit below them smelled so terrible. It was flesh. Fermented, decaying, black, moldy flesh. All over the ground, everywhere Lork looked. Meat so rotten it had formed into a gelatinous state, It was constantly moving and wiggling from the thousands if not millions of bugs eating and burrowing in it. The sickening stench was so dense it was like a thin fog that blanketed the moldy, bubbly, foaming ground. Lork decided to close his bag so Govi could not see. It was so squishy from the decay and from the looks of it there was a lot more rotten meat farther below him. It was a massive, gelatinous decaying, pile of flesh that was likely extremely deep (but Lork did not want to find out for himself so refrained from testing his theories) and from the looks of it covered the entire bottom of the casum, a casum so deep light could not reach the bottom. With every step, he took the meat on the ground leaked a white bubbly foam. The more Lork looked at the ground below him the more revolting details he noticed, Lork tried his best to keep his mind off the ground.

He looked at the new bugs he had not seen before when he noticed an odd feature of these bugs or, odd lack of feature. These bugs had no eyes. Lork decided to refer to them as blinds because that is all they are. Their antennae were in the spot their eyes are supposed to be. They had 3 pairs of antennae in total, the other 2 pairs were on the backside of the blind. The first back pair waved around like the antennae on the front and the other pair dragged along the decomposing ground, following the creature, likely to sense movement below it. Their mandibles were vertical rather than horizontal. The bugs varied in size, some the size of Lork’s claws, and others practically the size of a mole cricket. But Lork could tell just by looking at them that they were just harmless scavengers. Lork considered killing one of the bigger ones for sport but remembered that it eats nothing but decaying, rotten, moldy meat so it likely would taste just as terrible. Lork lost his appetite anyway. For the most part, they looked like they relied on their antennae to relay information about what was around them. These bugs also made the most other-worldly sounds, at times it almost sounded like they were mimicking hallowspeak but in a distorted and confusing manner, but it was mostly words that start with “ch'' sounds. _“Chchch… Che...d ch..ch chaaa...''_ one murmured to itself as it chewed a piece of flesh that almost looked like it was subliming. They did not seem to be very intelligent, so it was likely just another weird trait to an already weird bug.

There were also creatures that looked like dirtcarvers but were much more pointy (likely to discourage the blind from stepping on them) and appeared to be hardier and had other odd features to aid it in this environment, such as a third mandible that was coiled and could rotate. Perhaps a more primitive relative. They did not seem to be as territorial as the dirtcravers in Deepnest, which would attack Lork despite being completely dwarfed by him. Their passiveness here is likely because it's so crowded that it's pointless to claim territory. They did, however, still burrow into the flesh like the dirtcarvers of deepnest, but unlike the dirtcarvers who pushed the dirt aside, these ones dug by eating the decomposed greasy meat. Lork appropriately named them fleshcarvers. Strangely enough, there were no hatchers in sight, so the species may have an entirely different life cycle. There were also many annoying, useless bugs so small they were practically dots, they buzzed around excessively and were extremely pathetic.

Lork did not know what to do at this point. He knew that he would eventually reach **something** if he continued walking, but… This place looked like it stretched without end, just like the wastelands above him and just like that grey lake. Lork did not know if he was actually getting close to something. All of this progress he has made in this empty, sandy, world outside hallownest has felt as if it was all for nothing. Lork thought that maybe if that orange beast had taken him he would not have had to suffer in this place. He would have perished, likely the last of his kind, alone with whatever warm, loud, glowing embrace he saw in his dream. _“But I would have never met Govi…”_ Lork murmured to himself as he turned around to peak inside his bag. He could see the small deformed bug inside, whose fear melted away, comforted by Lork’s presence. He could not give up though, not with Govi here. He had to keep Govi safe, he promised himself he would. Lork figured that his best option in this situation would be to just continue walking forward. _“I will protect Govi.”_ Lork reassured himself. 

He took a few steps forward and stopped. He noticed that his extra 4th pair of legs had fallen off while he was asleep. Lork had lost all of his child limbs and was officially an adult scorpion. He could not celebrate this given his situation but he did feel good about himself. 

It was hard for Lork to endure this stench for so long, but he continued on, determined to get out, determined to fulfill his new purpose he had found for himself, which was to protect Govi. With every step he took the mushy, decayed, ground would bend inwards almost like the spoiled flesh was inviting him to lay down and rest. Occasionally one of his legs would fall far too deep into the rotten meat and he would have to pull his leg out. Lork was rather hungry earlier but had lost his appetite, and seeing how all of the blind bugs here only feasted on the rancid meat covering the floor, he did not want to see how desperate they would be for fresh food. Lork continued to glance around as he walked, there was not much to see. The light-emitting from the lumafly jar could hardly pierce the darkness of this place. Far up above he could see light shooting through massive holes in the ceiling, but from down here they appeared so minuscule. It was somewhat beautiful to look at, in a way. Some of those large holes at the top were likely the ones Lork had made before he descended into this pit of decay. Around him, he could only see the faint black outlines of the blind bugs. If there were walls in this place, they were far far away from where he was. He could see a few of the pillars sprouting out and reaching high up to the surface, holding the unstable land above from collapsing. There were many locusts roosting on them. He looked down at the hideous ground of flesh, the mold, and the rotten meat would occasionally mix into a new color Lork never saw before, and frankly, never wanted to see again.

When Lork traveled through the wastelands, he always loathed the wind which was always in his antennae. But down here, he hated that he could sense movement. Movement all around him. Crawling, squirming, scuttling, flying, all around him. In a way, he wished that the wind could reach down here and blind his antennae, all of this movement around him unsettled Lork.

Time passed. Lork began to think he was making even less progress down here than he was on the surface of the hollow. Lork had gotten used to the smell, as awful as it was, he knew he had to get over it if he was to somehow escape. Lork’s mind was filled with thoughts and ideas, not about escape, but rather theories about this place. _“What kind of ground is hollow and has rotting flesh at the bottom of it? Why is this place so massive?”_ Lork had many ideas and explanations but none of them answered every question he had. None of them were satisfying. They all lingered in his mind despite that.

As he traveled he noticed the large pillars appeared more often, and locusts, as well as the blind and fleshcarvers, were less common. Lork was no longer in the center of the hollow, he was reaching the other end. Soon the pillars appeared so often it was as if he was in a forest of putrid meat. A wave of hope shot through Lork. He walked farther for some time, slightly faster now until finally, salvation appeared before him. He could make out a new light that shined like a beacon of hope in the distance. An opening at the end of the musty cavern. The ground was getting steep now the further he traveled but the glow at the end was growing in size as he walked towards it. Eventually, the climb became so steep and slippery, Lork had trouble holding his ground. Lork stepped a little bit further, he was almost at the opening. He took another step further. His leg sunk into the rancid flesh, he could feel the cold wet flesh press up against his belly. Lork took a deep breath which he, again, regretted and proceeded to reach out with his right claw and stuck it deep in the moldy flesh, searching for something to grab onto to pull himself uphill. Nothing. He leaned farther in and stuck his arm all the way in. But even then he still could not locate anything to grip. Lork figured his arm could be far enough in to support him, so he pulled himself up to take another step but he immediately slid down the side and tumbled into the gelatinous decay around him, he made sure to land with his tail upwards so his bag with Govi inside would not land in it. Lork took a moment to get his bearings then got up again. He looked at the slippery slope that was before him, he looked at the marks he had left in the putrid flesh when he had previously climbed. Lork had trouble thinking of a way to get up, there was no way he could climb it without sliding down like before, he looked around and approached a large pillar that was nearby, carefully, Lork climbed it, brushing off locusts that were roosting on the pillar as he went up. When he reached a decent height, then he leaped off and managed to land safely at the top of the flesh hill, after managing to lift his body out of the meat and continuing to walk towards the now huge opening before him.

The exit was colossal and had large black spikes that poked out of the front and loomed over the opening like the grey sky. The spikes did not look like something that was naturally formed. The light that came out of the opening was almost blinding, as Lork had grown used to the almost pitch black darkness inside the hollow. The light revealed the walls, which were also covered in pieces of rotten flesh, they were curved and black. There were locusts all over them, roosting and picking off the flesh that was clinging to the walls. As he walked closer he noticed the flesh here was, although still rotten, was also covered in grey sand, something Lork never thought he would be glad to witness. 

Lork walked out the exit and after walking far enough from the colossal opening, he turned around to get a good view of the entrance. It was odd-looking, again, this did not look naturally formed at all. Almost bug made. The spikes were a different color on top than it did underneath. It was white, with bits of grey and even black on the top. It looked like the color had faded from it after being outside for so long. It must’ve originally looked black. Lork took a second to take it all in, in a way, the architecture was rather appealing to look at despite it being so worn down. 

Finally, outside, Lork took a deep breath of relief, and for the first time in a while, he did not regret it. He opened up his bag so Govi could see, Govi stared at the entrance with Lork for a while before getting Lork’s attention and making another gesture he did not understand. Lork took Govi out of the bag and placed him down next to him so Govi could emphasize what that means but Govi stopped making the gesture after being put in the sand. Lork noticed a rock formation near the entrance of the rotten expanse with a crevice inside that would make a good resting spot. _“Follow me,”_ Lork muttered to the little bug. The 2 wanderers rested in between the large rocks that protected them from the wind and sandstorm which followed. They laid together in silence, and dreamed of nothing, while distant locusts could be heard, flying in the sky above them. Lork felt an outside presence observing him, stalking him. He did not want to look around, as that would make it realize he is aware of it, so for now, Lork slept with his antennae up, just in case.

**_~End of Chapter 6~_ **


End file.
